Tsade (also spelled ṣade, ṣādē, ṣaddi, ṣad, tzadi, sadhe, tzaddik) is the eighteenth letter of the Semitic abjads, including Arabic ṣād ص‎, Aramaic ṣāḏē 𐡑, Ge'ez ṣädäy ጸ, Hebrew ṣādī צ‎, Phoenician ṣādē 𐤑, and Syriac ṣāḏē ܨ. Its oldest phonetic value is debated, although there is a variety of pronunciations in different modern Semitic languages and their dialects. It represents the coalescence of three Proto-Semitic "emphatic consonants" in Canaanite. Arabic, which kept the phonemes separate, introduced variants of ṣād and ṭāʾ to express the three (see ḍād, ẓāʾ). In Aramaic, these emphatic consonants coalesced instead with ʿayin and ṭēt, respectively, thus Hebrew ereṣ ארץ (earth) is araʿ ארע‎ in Aramaic.

Tsade
Phoenician
𐤑
Hebrew
צ
Aramaic
𐡑
Syriac
ܨ
Arabic
ص
Phonemic representation (t͡s)
Position in alphabet18
Numerical value90
Alphabetic derivatives of the Phoenician
GreekϺ, Ψ, ϡ
Latin-
CyrillicЦ, Ч, Џ, Ѱ

The Phoenician letter is continued in the Greek san (Ϻ) and possibly sampi (Ϡ), and in Etruscan 𐌑 Ś. It may have inspired the form of the letter tse in the Glagolitic and Cyrillic alphabets.

The corresponding letter of the Ugaritic alphabet is 𐎕 ṣade.

The letter is named "tsadek" in Yiddish,[1] and Hebrew speakers often give it a similar name as well. This name for the letter probably originated from a fast recitation of the alphabet (i.e., "tsadi, qoph" → "tsadiq, qoph"), influenced by the Hebrew word tzadik, meaning "righteous person".[2]

Origins

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The origin of ṣade is unclear. It may have come from a Proto-Sinaitic script based on a pictogram of a plant, perhaps a papyrus plant, or a fish hook (in Modern Hebrew, צד tsad means "[he] hunt[ed]", and in Arabic صاد ṣād means "[he] hunted").

Arabic ṣād

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ṣād صاد
ص
Usage
Writing systemArabic script
TypeAbjad
Language of originArabic language
Sound values
Alphabetical position14
History
Development
Other
Writing directionRight-to-left
This article contains phonetic transcriptions in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. For the distinction between [ ], / / and ⟨ ⟩, see IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters.

The letter is named ṣād and in Modern Standard Arabic is pronounced /sˤ/.

It is written in several ways depending in its position in the word:

Position in word Isolated Final Medial Initial
Glyph form:
(Help)
ص ـص ـصـ صـ

Chapter 38 of the Quran is named for this letter, which begins the chapter.

The phoneme is not native to Persian, Ottoman Turkish, or Urdu, and its pronunciation in Arabic loanwords in those languages is not distinguishable from س or ث, all of which are pronounced [s].

In relation with Hebrew

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Often, words that have ظ ẓāʾ, ص ṣād, and ض ḍād in Arabic have cognates with צ tsadi in Hebrew.

Examples
  • ظ ẓāʾ: the word for "thirst" in Classical Arabic is ظمأ ẓamaʾ and צמא tsama in Hebrew.
  • ص ṣād: the word for "Egypt" in Classical Arabic is مصر miṣr and מצרים mitsrayim in Hebrew.
  • ض ḍād: the word for "egg" in Classical Arabic is بيضة bayḍah and ביצה betsah in Hebrew.

When representing this sound in transliteration of Arabic into Hebrew, it is written as צ tsade.

Hebrew tsadi

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Orthographic variants
position
in
word
Various print fonts Modern Cursive
Hebrew
Rashi
script
Serif Sans-serif Monospaced
non-final צ צ צ    
final ץ ץ ץ    

Hebrew spelling: צָדִי or צָדֵי.

Name

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In Hebrew, the letter's name is tsadi or ṣadi, depending on whether the letter is transliterated as Modern Israeli "ts" or Tiberian "ṣ". Alternatively, it can be called tsadik or ṣadik, spelled צָדִּיק, influenced by its Yiddish name tsadek and the Hebrew word tzadik.

Variations

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Ṣadi, like kaph, mem, pe, and nun, has a final form, used at the end of words. Its shape changes from צ‎ to ץ‎.

Pronunciation

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In Modern Hebrew, צ tsade represents a voiceless alveolar affricate /t͡s/. This is the same in Yiddish. Historically, it represented either a pharyngealized /sˤ/ or an affricate such as the modern Hebrew pronunciation or the Ge’ez [t͡sʼ];[3] which became [t͡s] in Ashkenazi pronunciation. A geresh can also be placed after tsade (צ׳ ; ץ׳‎), giving it the sound [t͡ʃ] (or, in a hypercorrected pronunciation, a pharyngealized [ʃˤ]), e.g. צִ׳יפְּס‎ chips.

Ṣade appears as [sˤ] amongst Yemenite Jews and other Jews from the Middle East.

Some Sephardi Jews pronounce צ‎ like a regular s, and this is the sound value it has in Judaeo-Spanish, as in "masa" (matzo) or "sadik" (tzadik).

Significance

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In gematria, ṣadi represents the number 90. Its final form represents 900, but this is rarely used, taw, taw, and qof (400+400+100) being used instead.

As an abbreviation, it stands for ṣafon, north.

Ṣadi is also one of the seven letters that receive special crowns (called tagin) when written in a Sefer Torah. See shin, ‘ayin, tet, nun, zayin, and gimmel.

Character encodings

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Character information
Preview צ ץ ص ܨ
Unicode name HEBREW LETTER TSADI HEBREW LETTER FINAL TSADI ARABIC LETTER SAD SYRIAC LETTER SADHE SAMARITAN LETTER TSAADIY
Encodings decimal hex dec hex dec hex dec hex dec hex
Unicode 1510 U+05E6 1509 U+05E5 1589 U+0635 1832 U+0728 2065 U+0811
UTF-8 215 166 D7 A6 215 165 D7 A5 216 181 D8 B5 220 168 DC A8 224 160 145 E0 A0 91
Numeric character reference צ צ ץ ץ ص ص ܨ ܨ ࠑ ࠑ


Character information
Preview 𐎕 𐡑 𐤑
Unicode name UGARITIC LETTER SADE IMPERIAL ARAMAIC LETTER SADHE PHOENICIAN LETTER SADE
Encodings decimal hex dec hex dec hex
Unicode 66453 U+10395 67665 U+10851 67857 U+10911
UTF-8 240 144 142 149 F0 90 8E 95 240 144 161 145 F0 90 A1 91 240 144 164 145 F0 90 A4 91
UTF-16 55296 57237 D800 DF95 55298 56401 D802 DC51 55298 56593 D802 DD11
Numeric character reference 𐎕 𐎕 𐡑 𐡑 𐤑 𐤑

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ Weinreich, Uriel (1968). Modern English-Yiddish Yiddish-English Dictionary. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co. p. 453. ISBN 07-0690380-3.
  2. ^ "The Letter Tsade: Righteousness and Modesty" (in Hebrew). Archived from the original on 31 May 2024. Retrieved 5 December 2010.
  3. ^ Steiner, Richard (1982). "Affricated Sade in the Semitic Languages". The American Academy for Jewish Research, Research Monograph Series. 3.
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